Carl Sagan Quotes

A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.
Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge.”
-Carl Sagan,

“It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
–Carl Sagan

“It’s better to light a candle then to curse the darkness.”
–Carl Sagan

“Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history.”
–Carl Sagan

“In science it often happens that scientists say, “You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,” and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.”
–Carl Sagan

“I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.”
–Carl Sagan

“But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”
–Carl Sagan

“There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That’s perfectly all right; they’re the aperture to finding out what’s right.
— Carl Sagan

“For most of human history we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Who are we? What are we? We find that we inhabit an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgoten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxys than people. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions, and by the depth of our answers.”
— Carl Sagan

“The well-meaning contention that all ideas have equal merit seems to me little different from the disastrous contention that no ideas have any merit.”
— Carl Sagan

“The Universe forces those who live in it to understand it. Those creatures who find everyday experience a muddled jumble of events with no predictability, no regularity, are in grave peril. The Universe belongs to those who, at least to some degree, have figured it out.”
— Carl Sagan

“…the scientific cast of mind examines the world critically, as if many alternative worlds might exist, as if other things might be here which are not. Then we are forced to ask why what we see is present and not something else. Why are the Sun and moon and the planets spheres? Why not pyramids, or cubes, or dodecahedra? Why not irregular, jumbly shapes? Why so symetrical, worlds? If you spend any time spinning hypotheses, checking to see whether they make sence, whether they conform to what else we know. Thinking of tests you can pose to substantiate or deflate hypotheses, you will find yourself doing science.”
— Carl Sagan

“We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it’s forever.”
–Carl Sagan.

“Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.”
–Carl Sagan.

“When you make the finding yourself–even if you’re the last person on Earth to see the light–you never forget it.”
–Carl Sagan.

“It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
–Carl Sagan.

“There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That’s perfectly all right; they’re the aperture to finding out what’s right. Science is a self-correcting process. To be accepted, new ideas must survive the most rigorous standards of evidence and scrutiny.”
–Carl Sagan.

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
-Carl Sagan

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